Battle helmet or hood? It’s a question that has been in the mind of GI Joe fans since the 1980’s. In the comic and cartoon, the Commander switched headgear quite often, causing kids (including me) to want both versions. Hasbro fulfilled the wish in 1984, with a mail order hooded version. Both the hood and a redesigned battle helmet later
Read moreThe BUGG is one of the absolute funkiest vehicles in the Cobra arsenal. An impressive underwater and shoreline attack craft, as well as a truly amphibious personnel carrier, it featured a removable mini-sub as well as deployable jet skis. With its bulbous front end, the thing also looked like a bug. Secto Viper naturally follows suit with a wild design
Read more1987 only produced one single carded Cobra army building trooper, the battlefield technician, or Techno-Viper. Some folks look at ’87 as the year things started to go downhill with the Real American Hero line, but I don’t agree. There was still a mix of Joe and Cobra personalities with new and different designs and specialties to keep things interesting. The
Read moreThe Iron Grenadier was a troop type that I missed out on during its initial run in the 80’s. I’m sorry that I did, because as an adult collector it holds a lot of interest for me. I like Destro’s break off into his own force, as I’ve always thought of him as a very capable leader in his own
Read moreAs an homage to an Argentinian figure I’ll probably never get my hands on, this was a welcome addition to the collection. You could say that this figure as well as the same year’s pilot Scarlett were Hasbro’s first forays into giving fans some some exclusive and elusive foreign variations of classic molds. The Collectors Club has since taken the
Read moreHere’s another figure that’s been sitting in my queue for entirely too long. I’ve promised myself that I would clear out all these figures in the on-deck circle before the year is out. It’s not that I don’t like this version of the Commander, but I just haven’t been able to think of much to say about it. The figure
Read moreWhen I saw the Amazon exclusive Renegades four pack, I was intrigued by three of the figures, with their incredibly different design styles. I didn’t pull the trigger on picking up the set until it recently dropped in price. I’m glad I did, as the style of the two ninja figures is a cool departure that reminds me a little of one of my
Read moreThe new sculpt era was filled with new troop types for Cobra. I totally dig that. After all, why create a new line if it ends up being solely a recreation of something we’ve already had? At the beginning of this new era, Cobra was free from classically styled blueshirts, Vipers, Crimson Guards, and the like. They were replaced with
Read moreYesterday I covered a modern interpretation of a classic Cobra trooper, one that wasn’t a direct copy of an old figure into the modern aesthetic. Today’s figure goes a different route towards remaking something that came before. The Alley Viper of 1989 was an odd duck, to say the least. Not a bad figure, just incredibly outside of the norm
Read moreImagine piloting a vehicle that puts so much stress on your body that you have out of body experiences. That is the most trippy thing I’ve read on a GI Joe file card. Talk about dangerous and a liability for your air forces. Once again, Cobra pushes the limits of safety for its troops, and puts itself at a combat
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